cobol OPEN statement
Remarks
The COBOL OPEN statement initiates file processing. File resources in COBOL are defined in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, named in FD (File Descriptor) paragraphs. These fd names are used to access physical disk files and various options are specified in a SELECT clauses in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION. A programmer is expected to test a FILE STATUS identifier for status and error codes.
Modes include INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O and EXTEND.
